water hardness

Kris F · #1 02-27-2003, 02:57 AM

Hey everybody! I'm happy to inform everyone that my fish is eating again , and thanx for the tips! I just tested the general hardness of my water and it was WAY too high! like 500ppm. how do I get it down without it affecting my KH? any help would be appreciated!

Canadian Man · #2 02-27-2003, 03:32 AM

Testing GH is a reef tank wont work. So don't bother testing.

I assume your using Hagen test kits cause you mention both.
Only use the KH part of the test kit.
What's your KH at BTW?

Just to give you some conversion values for the hagen kits;

Basically every drop is = to .2meq/l.
So in my tank last time I mesured my drops were 18 drops which would work out to be 3.6meq/l.

cheers

Kris F · #3 02-27-2003, 03:51 AM

Hey Jonathan, thanx for the speedy reply! I didn't know that the GH part wouldn't work, so that would explain the non-existent colour change when I do the test! My KH is at 2.8meq/L. Does this seem low? By the By, my tank is live rock, fish and some inverts.But no coral yet, at least until I get the hang of taking care of fish!

Canadian Man · #4 02-27-2003, 04:55 AM

No prob,
Well for a fish only and some inverts that's fine. Even for corals that's probably fine. If you had some corals in the tank I would suggest above 3.0meq/l but 2.8 is close enough.
No sense in chasing numbers when you don't have to.